


Behind a Mask of Night- Awakening

by Moxas



Series: Behind a Mask of Night [1]
Category: Exalted
Genre: Gen, Multi, Night Caste, Other, Self-Insert, Solar Exalt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2018-10-19 19:10:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10646226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moxas/pseuds/Moxas
Summary: Take one average modern day male, throw him into an ancient mythical universe. Then give him near unlimited cosmic power and a job to fix all of Creation's troubles. Honestly I don't get paid enough for this.





	1. -----In which enlightenment is realizing you overslept-----------

__  
  
It had always made my life more difficult. The fact that sleep never comes easily to me. My body more suited to the time when the sun has set. All through the hours of when most people are off sleeping, I’m kept up by my traitor of a body.  
  
When I was finally able to pull the covers over myself and let my aching body rest. I cursed the fact that I would always be feel more awake in the night and the trouble that comes from being different from the majority of people. If only I knew the half of it.  
  
The next time when the rays of morning stirred me out of little sleep I could grab. Everything felt chilled and the sensation behind was hard and unyielding unlike how a mattress should be.  
  
Colors blurred in my vision as my body slowly came to awareness. The first thing my brain noticed was that there was more green around me than there should be in my bedroom. Then it struck me that this was not my bedroom.  
  
The chittering of birds and insects along with rustling of tree branches told me that this was wilderness. What’s more was that I had somehow found myself in the middle of it.  
  
Bracing myself against the tree trunk that had served as my current bed, I had to wonder what had happened. I didn't have a history of sleepwalking and I simply didn't know enough people to try something like this as a prank.  
  
Being the victim of a burglary was a ridiculous idea. What sort of burglar would risk their target waking up to move them?  
  
Nothing seemed familiar about the forest I found myself in. At least the climate seemed the same, temperate with a slight chill in the dawn. While normally sticking in one spot when lost was the safest thing to do. The fact that I had no recollection of ever going out last night probably meant the only people who know where I was didn’t have my best interests in mind.  
  
So the conclusion I came to was to get away from where I woke up as soon as possible. Hopefully I could find civilization somewhere near. Then I could get home. Though it was not an easy walk with pebbles and the snapping of twigs underfoot. Thankfully nothing sharp pierced my soles.  
  
Slowly but surely the canopy overhead thinned out to let sunlight cover the ground. What lay upon the horizon standing majestic against the blue of the sky was a mountain. A mountain so large that its height could be seen while its base faded into the haze. It was a mountain I was pretty sure wasn’t around where I lived.  
  
_Crud now where am I?_ I thought to myself but that thought was bulldozed by more important priorities. I was cold, hungry, thirsty and lost. Hopefully I could address at least two of them out in the wilderness. Thankfully I read a lot of articles and books on a variety of subjects. While I would never match anybody who had actual wilderness survival training. I could remember enough information to last me until help arrived or was found. Though I hoped I didn’t misremember anything.  
  
My path became one of necessity, following a trail of plants that looked safe. Either nibbled on by the occasional bird hopping by or by any sort of sign that it wasn’t poisonous. That meant most fungi, pale colored fruit, or parts that irritated at a touch were right out. It was slow going but I at least kept my energy up.  
  
The little crawlers I could find on the trees and ground helped. Insects were good protein and usually easy to tell if they were safe to eat. Thank you mother nature for making poison beautiful, and easy to see too. I had to admit to myself it wasn’t easy to eat bugs though. More than a decade of living in a society where sanitation should be everything had me shudder at the sight of insects. That and something with so many legs skittering is just unsettling.  
  
Still when the stomach calls, often the brain goes to march to its tune. Though I had to scarf down the various ants, beetles and worms without thinking too deeply. So I had the food situation covered, there was still dryness in my throat. So far I hadn’t smelled the scent or heard the trickle of water of any sort. I’d prefer if it was running water I found but if it was standing I could only hope it was clear at least and get medical attention sooner than later.  
  
I don’t know how long I had been walking but the sun overhead did move. Never before did I wish I carried a watch with my or at least my ipod. I counted myself lucky my glasses, with rectangular lenses were on my face when I woke up.  
  
Still that didn’t help me know what time it was exactly. _It is the tenth hour of the day. Wait how do I know that?_ I stopped there with the sounds of the wilderness. The question of how did I know what time it was, and be so certain about it kept repeating in my head. A sudden whim chilled me, a minor power to tell time, a certain large mountain that could be seen in the distance.  
  
These were things that came from a setting I knew quite well. But I couldn’t assume that something this fantastical had happened to me. There was one way to check and maybe assure myself that I was probably suffering from impaired judgment. I’d blame it on being a homebody. I wasn’t sure how it worked but I just closed my eyes and thought, I need light. My eyes opened and the shadows were driven back. The bark upon the tree trunks had every whirl of the wood plain to see. What flowers there were had their colors stand vividly in the unwavering golden light.  
  
I took off my glasses and glanced at the lenses. The shining reflection of a golden empty circle stared back at me. Another tree became a firm support as I placed my hands on my face and laughed. Manically and without abandon I let out every last bit of the terror that rooted me to the spot.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Great. I was in Creation, the world of Exalted. The world where an uncountable number of powder kegs were ready to explode and take out all of existence. The place where trying to take out one fire just sets off five more. A land where humans were so easily squished and literally designed to be a delicious source of prayer. Now I was stuck in the middle of it.  
  
With my luck I could probably say I was in the grim age of sorrows era, because I note there was no giant titans striding the land to do battle or highly developed civilizations within the walking distance I crossed. At least I apparently was one of the Exalted, a solar of the night caste. I seriously would put my survival chances in the negatives if I was just a normal human walking a world filled with gods, demons and mad empowered demi-gods.  
  
The back of my head started stabbing me with the horrid realization that this world was filled with problems and a lot of them would want me dead or worse. I numbly continued to move, partly because I wasn’t sure if could move again if I stopped and secondly because I didn’t want to be ambushed by a fate ninja assault in case my popping up in Creation twigged something on the Loom of Fate.  
  
I was a completely inexperienced solar with no idea how my powers were supposed to work except for what I read for a game of pretend. Knowing what a charm did was not exactly useful when you have no idea of what the mechanics of activating a charm was. It actually took until I smelled bitter smoke that I stopped to notice what changed. I was standing in the middle of ashes and shattered wagons.  
  
Scattered and toss heedlessly upon trampled grass were fabrics, crates and various goods. From my amateur estimation they were good quality, for goods that actually showed craftsmanship. There weren’t any corpses, or if there were they had been rendered unnoticeable by flame. I couldn’t see any signs of what sort of ill fortune had struck this caravan.  
  
However it did mean that I could scavenge the ruins for supplies. After all if there had been people coming back for these things, then they would been better hidden than this. I spent some time picking through the discarded goods and found supplies, food and water, glorious water that I guzzled down greedily before remembering I need to conserve it. Sure I may be empowered by glorious solar… majesty. But I was pretty sure the package to flat out ignore my puny mortal needs didn’t come installed on me.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
One clothing change later. I had my old sleeping clothes bundled in a satchel along with some silver coinage and some very sharp and perfectly good knives. With plain gray cotton shorts and shirt along with nice blue hooded cloak, my appearance would not be something fantastical enough to draw attention. Deadly attention which I had to avoid. I chose to walk in the direction of the sun. After all with all the trees surrounding me it was more likely than not I was in the East and from there most of the larger settlements were to the west.  
  
Of course I could be completely wrong about where I was on Creation’s map. Yet eventually I’d hit the sea and where there’s water, there are people. I set off towards the distance following the daystar.  
  
I don’t know why or how I got here. Regardless of the real reason unless I go set up an exodus into the Wyld, I have to deal with all of Creation’s problems now. It was why the Exalted were made and for better or worse I was one of them. But first I have to get myself set up somewhere with people. Find out what year I am in and then I’ll see what I’ll do from there. Cause now I’ve got a shovel, so I best plan how to start digging.


	2. ------Where I miss the significance of something and where sloth trumps needless greed-----

>   
> You never really realize how long it takes to travel on foot unless you actually do it. Sure I had facts and figures about how far an average human can hike within an hour. Something like five miles or so an hour at best. I also knew that that distance was further reduced by the matter of a human unable to keep up that pace for a prolonged period of time. In short I wasn’t getting anywhere fast on foot.
> 
> If I remembered correctly, Creation was huge. Ridiculously huge. Enough to give cartographers seizures at the thought of trying to put everything to scale. I couldn’t remember the exact figures but I resolved to get some sort of transportation power.
> 
> In any case it was fortunate that a caravan, not the one that was burned and I requisitioned supplies from, had camped nearby. I stumbled upon it the evening on my second day going west. After spending one night alone under the trees, I swore to avoid doing something like that again.
> 
> Fear of daggers or fangs or sudden Wyld hunts had popped up all through the night. Then and there I was thankful I don’t slip into sleep easy during the night. Sure it may be a ridiculous over exaggeration of the danger of sleeping alone in the wilderness. However to be an exalt was to live in interesting times. I really didn’t want to see if I ended up going through Lethe or staying in the underworld if I died.
> 
> So when I spotted the caravan camped out in a clearing, greetings were called out to them before I realized what an idiot I was being. Of course they wouldn’t be able to understand me, Creation had its own entirely different language system. Even if I came to Creation with knowledge about how it operated. It still didn’t tell me what it was actually like living in this world.
> 
> Imagine my surprise when they responded back to what my ears appeared to be english. That was completely unexpected. I mean, yes there was a limited number of sounds that could be made with the human vocal box. But the odds that an analog to english appearing right here just gave me a headache. I wasn’t ungrateful that I could be understood but it just gave me more of the feeling that my life was being played with.
> 
> Those in the caravan weren’t from the guild. They were just humble small traders dealing with the small towns and villages that had not yet turned feasible for the perhaps most powerful mortal organization in Creation. They were wary at first, very few good things happened from meeting a lone person in the wilderness. However they seemed to be understanding of my plight of being stranded out in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t even have to lie about that and started to negotiate traveling with the caravan on their route.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> Apparently this caravan did good business going between Nexus and the untamed wilderness of the East. Good enough that I had joined this caravan for the purposes of helping with their ledger books while they went through their trading route throughout the scavenger lands. It came to that after some hasty talking about what I could do for the caravan. So far I wasn’t much of a fighter so being guard was right out. Furthermore my skills in selling things to other people was mediocre, even if I had glorious solar power on my side.
> 
> But for the past few weeks while sitting about making sure the caravan purses matched what was expected in trade, I heard some very important information about the current state of affairs on the state of creation. These were still the days when a market place still served as a gossip forum. Where news of the outside world was shared over the communal process of haggling. Sitting in a tent corner being hard at work making sure we were making a profit allowed me to overhear many things.
> 
> The most important rumor bandied about the people was that the war between the Bull of the North and the realm was going badly. For the realm legions being led by house Tepet that is. Apparently the Bull was one of the forsaken, had gathered enough of an army and was successfully leading them against the best the Realm had to offer. The only other recent excitement was that Thorns was still under Realm ‘administration’ during a transition through troubling times. Everything else was more or less local gossip.
> 
> Never mind that the first two topics were more often than not whispered. After all I might be in the Threshold, the edge of what was considered civilized but there was still Realm presence however small. An immaculate monk there, a reading of the scriptures there, the hope for a reincarnation as a Child of the Dragons. I was thankful I was a Night.
> 
> However there was the most important thing, the Bull of the North was still fighting. The Tepet legions hadn’t been crushed and sent the house spiraling into decline. Thorns hadn’t been bulldozed by the Mask of Winters. I was in a moment where everything for the Realm had not started to go downhill with chaos over the vanishing of their Scarlet Empress..
> 
> I had time, time to prepare then before all the excrement and chaos hit the fan. Enough to make the thought of going up against apocalypses caused by the fair folk, demons or the restless dead now seemed not inconceivable but merely improbable now. Possible options for courses of action came up and were decided.
> 
> First was the big doozy, one enabling event for all the chaos yet to come. The abduction of Her Royal Redness, the Scarlet Empress. Possibly kidnapped by one big black dragon. Though I couldn’t be sure exactly how much setting information that I read about would actually be true. I’d just have to assume that the certain setting facts were in play and speculative story hooks were just that, speculative.
> 
> Still I could assume at least the Scarlet Empress would go missing soon. But should I warn her of the possible kidnapping slash vanishing? It merely took a moment to consider that it was a completely idiotic idea.
> 
> First off was the improbability of actually crossing a fourth of Creation all the way to the Imperial City. Then from there breaking into the Palace and getting close enough to warn Her Redness of what she was getting into. No chance in hell of that happening. Besides what reason would she have to believe me anyway. A mere stranger that was actually a wretched anathema? There was nothing I could influence about this event so I wasn’t going to do anything about it.
> 
> Another situation that came to mind was the Bull of the North whose name escaped me. Could I join up with him? He was going to be a force that would change the situation of Creation eventually. Yet I was unsure what I could offer him. Then I remembered that soon he would join up with a crazy sorceress with mind control spells and charms. It would be rather pointless to throw in with the Bull of the North who wanted to form an independent nation if I’d eventually end up a mind controlled servant of his circle.
> 
> I decided to avoid dealing with the North until I have at least something to handle an army and mind control. The realization came to me that I probably wouldn’t be safe with any of the major names stated in Exalted lore.
> 
> I guess that’s a problem with foreknowledge. I know too much about all the major players in this world and those connected to them. Eventually I would slip up with dangerous information and expose myself as a threat. Sadly that would go for any possible exalt I could work with.
> 
> So for the time being I’d have to be silent and work alone. I didn’t think the thought would hurt that much.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> In the end however I kept to the ledger books and they turned out pristine and neatly totalled. Enough that the members of the caravan didn’t really mind my occasional walk through the markets that they set up in. My purse soon became more stuffed with silver than air.
> 
> My terms of employment were passage along the caravan along with room and board. However if I was to set up a base for operating in Creation I was going to get my hands on at least one of the things that make Creation move. Not prayer but filthy money.
> 
> As much as I’d like to make legitimate money. The problem was business meant publicity. Maybe it wouldn’t come to the attention of the Realm. But if I was going to get the funds to at least throw water at the waiting bonfires, I was going to have to use glorious solar bovine excrement to “improve” profits. That would get the Sidereals’ attention fast, maybe not instantly but enough that the returns wouldn’t be worth it.
> 
> Perhaps it was fortunate that I had been gifted with the identity as a dagger of heaven. I say gifted because I’m not sure if I had done anything that had qualified as showing enough cunning or guile to take a second breath. Frankly I just woke up in strange circumstances and tried to make sense of them. If anything I should have exalted as a Zenith for dealing with this shit.
> 
> I tried to imagine myself as a shining light bulb towards the masses of Creation, radiating inspiration and motivational speeches. Inside me something winced. If I ever needed to get a large message out to the world, I’ll leave a note or possibly have somebody else do it. I consider myself more Twilight in nature but operating as a night where secrecy is key. Worse things could have happened
> 
> Going back to why I was fortunate to be a night caste, it meant all sorts of skullduggery was quite natural to me. The method I was supplanting my non-existent income was pickpocketing but I had to be selective of how much and who do I take from.
> 
> Part of it was moral restraint and part of it was practicality. I had to be careful with how much holier than thou I could dip into. If I lost too much of my humanity like those in the First Age, well I didn’t want to think too deeply into that. I had to remember consequences are something that applies to me regardless of how much power I would gain.
> 
> Otherwise there wasn’t really a point to taking from the purses of those that couldn’t afford it. Then again I had to be restrained from how much I took from the rich. That little trick where I could flat out take those silver coins out of belt pouches without being detected helped. However if every time crime spiked when the caravan came into town. Well I didn’t want to make trouble for these people who just tried to make a living. Also they saved on travel time.
> 
> I could be patient however, I had some time to spare. Little by little, I had a sizable purse to keep me through the next stage of whatever I was going to stumble into. Regardless in any case, the caravan was headed towards the ports of Nexus in a month or so. I wasn’t going to stop there. My next destination would be Great Forks where I’ll probably find some some hints for my next plan of action. Set up in Great Forks and go liberating some equipment from one of my former peers.
> 
>  


	3. ------------Among the Temples, I get involved------------------

Great Forks, City of Temples, the party that never ends. The Big Apple of the Scavenger lands, or maybe that was Nexus. I wouldn’t be surprised if Venus has a vacation home here, if she and the rest of the gods ever raise their heads from the Games of Divinity. Damn cosmic x-box, I shuddered to think what would happen if it ever one day got a red screen of death.

Still even if the Games of Divinity suffer an inexplicable malfunction somewhere down the line, I and by extension humanity shouldn’t rely too much on the gods. Going further on that thought would almost include us the exalted. I would agree a bit with the Lunars on that mortals should be able to sustain a society without the exalted, not too much on eliminating civilization. The First Age collapsed without the solars, the Third Age should have people stand on their own two feet in my opinion.

I am not immortal, I had to beat that into my brain. The only technical immortals were spirits, the Abyssals and the Infernals if they were smart about it. If I remembered correctly I could live up to three thousand years. More if I tried to dip into the secrets of life extension. However living a life span outside of a normal would inevitability alter my view point. So I had to watch myself for tripping down the path of megalomania.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Returning to those who walked the streets. Truly Great Forks deserved its position on the maps of Creation. The streets were littered with humans along with a novelty in Creation. Spirits. gods, elementals, occasional ancestor spirits and the rare fae walked about doing the same business as the mortals.

Perhaps it was a good idea. Spirits had a radically different worldview from humans. They don’t understand humans really but that went both ways. Maybe it would be better if the Gods interacted more with mortals than just the carnival of meeting or miracle making. Still have to deal with irrational dignity though.

Thinking back to the caravan, they had left thanking me for keeping their books straight. Actually more because of my attention to the flow of the goods most and least purchased. With that information of the trends of the past and the present, they were most effectively able to trade their goods with a minimum of stock wasted and able to rake in the silver. After all things like the amount of rope and ores being snapped up quickly while luxury goods and spices had taken a downturn weren’t easy to figure out without a moment to contemplate records.

Still we parted ways amicably. And I was setting up myself in this city of temples. A location where many opportunities were to be had in the coming future. I had rented a small set of rooms with the silver I have aquired over the past few weeks.

It wasn’t in the best neighborhood, even for the Northern quarter where slave dormitories were mostly located. However there were some benefits to this arrangement, the most important was less questions about myself. There was also the reasonably short distance to the house of learning and all the scholars and learned men. Now I had a chance to at least catch up learning the information I should have learned if I was living in Creation.

So I had been wandering the halls of education when possible, listening at a distance to scholars, monks and teachers patiently and repeatedly trying to beat letters into people’s heads. And people wanted to learn, they came so that they could at least read if not write. Chalk it up to civil pride. Those of Great Forks loved their city, though with good reason. They considered it a beacon of learning and culture, the greatest among all cities. Not surpassing Heaven of course, no need to get haughty celestial gods into a snit.

It showed in the more affluent parts of the city. The clean streets, the colors and the fashions of the city displayed more prominently and in the passion of every word used to describe Great Forks to outsiders. Honestly I think they could have talked my ear off if I’d let them.

There were learned men that were happy to ramble on about the local history surrounding the area. A few battles there, a treaty or so signed there. They kept their history especially if it showed the civic pride. I did learn that there were several tombs and ruins of ill repute, mostly the result of a successful wyld hunt. Their locations were kept firmly on paper when I had the moment.

Yet that was not the only information I came away with. My purse had shrunk for the purchase of some useful research materials. Star charts and manuals of astrology were stored away in a easy to carry knapsack. I was going to try and learn one of the occult sciences of Creation. Thaumaturgy was one of the few ways mortals could take control of the world through essence manipulation. Though no actual use of the energy the composed that world was actually used on the human’s part. It was almost like chemistry or physics in which a mortal who understood how the world works could set up a set of circumstances to bring a result that was inclined to manifest.

Thaumaturgy was never a good purchase when playing the game as I’ve been told. After all the exalted had sorcery, where heroes of the gods forced Creation to act in spectacular ways through sheer force of will. But I had never the time nor the safety to initiate and use something that flashy. It drew attention and I might not be assured of being able to be initiated into sorcery in the first place.

For the time being I’ll stick to helpful little tricks. Astrology on earth could charitably be called an art. One didn’t get exact and replicable results from it. However here it was a fact of life. A way to see the movements of the will of fate and destiny. Not to mention that the fabric of the Loom of Fate was reflected in the stars. I needed information and astrology could give me a small edge for when there was no physical way to obtain it. Even a vague warning could be better than going in blind.

Coming back to my current quarters. The building where I was renting was in a section where the guards were more focused on the slave barracks. While slaves in Great Forks had a better quality of life than the rest of creation’s slave societies, especially when compared to the modern slavery of earth. Still even the bird in the gilded cage yearns to spread its wings in the sky. There would still be those that tried to escape. Well maybe except those birds suffering from a traumatic experience or too beat down to survive in the sky anymore. 

Aside from extending a metaphor, the focus of the guards on escaping slaves. For public relations of course. Crime was able to run around freely here. Yet not in large organized syndicates, the guards and especially the three gods in charge of the city would not tolerate that. The largest type of criminal organization that could operate in Great Forks were gang families. Protection rackets, petty crime and gambling was what they got involved in. Not to mention the drugs, after all Great Forks was the city for a good time. Some people would risk their neck for a more “perfect” experience. 

It lead to how I was keeping myself fed and housed in the streets of Decadence. Camouflaged by the activity of petty thieves and the gangs, I was once again stuffing my pockets with the hard earned silver of other people. Yet I went farther than casually sliding up to unsuspecting victims, slipping my hands into their pockets and pouches, and using if I remembered correctly a flawless pickpocketing technique to snatch coins. I’d taken to wearing a hood over my face.

The reasoning was to further conceal my identity. It may have been a counterintuitive idea wearing so conspicuous a piece of headgear. However one thing I learned from good old Moist Von Lipwig, more or less if you give them something to look at. Chances are they’ll remember the blatant detail than focus more on the little things like height, or facial structure. Still it wasn’t as if my plain appearance would stick out, but better safe than dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the evening when rival gang members stalked the streets like great sharks. I was but a measly eel hidden in the shallows of anonymity. I may have had an advantage of being a night caste, liberating silver for the cause of saving Creation. While the normal mortal pickpocket risked being caught. With charms I made it impossible for mortal senses to catch me in the act. Still it made no sense to be careless and so I made sure to be vigilant of my surroundings.

After all if my targets were so distracted by the swarm of the crowds. I could suffer the same condition. My caution paid off, a minute disturbance of my belt pouch had me grabbing the source. A wrist belonging to another person who had a similar profession I was being involved in. I was slightly surprised as the wrist’s owner was a man with green hair .

In a few seconds I could make some assumptions about this would be cutpurse. He wasn’t a career thief from the inept way he tried grabbing at my silver. HIs raggy clothing compared to the rest of those on the street told me he had fallen on hard times or didn’t have enough income to support himself in the first place.

He was dreadfully thin. Something that tugged at my chest. Gah this stupid bleeding heart of mine. Maybe it was just me but it takes a lot of effort to just ignore suffering. I was quite the worrywort on earth. I had to rely on distractions to do so. But seeing this guy flinch and damn but those bones seemed brittle. I couldn’t ignore this even though I knew this probably wasn’t a good idea for me to do so. Guy suffering from malnutrition that had tried picking my pocket out of desperation. I had to do something even if it was just to selfishly quiet my conscience.

“There you are, I thought you would have gotten lost.” Internally choking, I dragged him along with me. He didn’t resist, either he was really weak from hunger or terrified he had picked the wrong pocket. Still hadn’t experienced any signs of amazing super heroic strength yet on my end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The city was organized into directional quarters where certain businesses or functions were more common. Yet a neighborhood had needs and they would be filled or people would riot at walking almost an hour to get a bite to eat. Sitting down at a table where a cart was selling bowls of wheat noodles.

Ordering a bowl for me and the green haired youth, probably a few years older than the majority on Creation. Wasn’t it considered when one was old enough to join the army? In any case I made sure his bowl was stuffed with vegetables and good honest cheap chicken. He looked rather uncertain. Utensils hovering over his bowl when it was placed in front of him.

“Who are you and why are you doing this?” He asked me, looking for all of the world wanting to bolt but unable to.

I had to hum a bit to myself, actually I wasn’t sure myself. However I couldn’t let him know that just yet. “Isn’t more polite to give your name first before demanding it from someone else?” I said.

That being said what would be my name here? That was a question I’d probably had to answer eventually. My real name was actually a bit of a mouthful. But would it even have meaning in Creation’s tongues? I had uncomfortably found out that river-tongue was creation’s analog to english. For some bizarre obtuse reason. Maybe a transliteration of my name's meaning or maybe just the syllables composing it would work. I had to answer to something, better it be a name I chose.

“Ginseng hidden in the Forest” My dinner companion said before finally digging into the meal. I suppose he really was starving from the lack of table manners he was showing.

“Eat slower or you’ll hurt something. Gin” As much as I’d like to be formal and polite if I wasn’t going to say his entire name. I didn’t have that much time on my hands. Judging from Gin’s slowing down and not making any aggravated noises I guess he wasn’t annoyed at the name shortening. “You could call me Fung. And for why. Well I was just wondering why you would do something desperate like this” I shook my belt pouch with my funds.

He clammed up, his green eyes that reminded of parsley for some reason, darted and tried hard not to catch my gaze. “Desperate? Who says providing for the brothers is desperate?”

Was he actually trying to bluff being a member of a gang? Before as a regular human I might have fallen for that. Yet I now had more acute insight into things, making conclusions go further with the information I had. Gin had no noticeable gang symbols, had no exit strategy when he failed to grab my money and was acting much too damn nervous to have the confidence that comes from being backed by a group larger than himself. So I just ended up giving him a flat look.

One utterly unamused stare that made him crack. “I… I… I needed to eat.” Gin said slurping up the soup and noodles. “Actually I tried getting into the army, but I wasn’t good enough. It’s been days and you seemed like the best solution”

That was odd, barring being almost robbed because I was convenient. If I remembered things right Great Forks had suffered from a near and total guttering of its army from some sort of battle. That had led into an uneasy mission of diplomacy for the city of temples while they were trying to build back their fighting force. Now I may be in Creation much earlier than normal but I was pretty sure that the lack of people in the army was a problem.

Maybe it was because Gin here currently looked like scarecrow to be knocked over by a stiff breeze. But I would have thought the army would have snatched him up regardless. Young, easily malleable with little options, perfect for an army. “So why couldn’t you enlist?” I asked.

He looked entirely downcast, slumped shoulders and utter exhaustion everywhere in his limbs. “Well they were wanting people who can at least defend themselves slightly. They need the manpower fast. So they don’t want to spend too much time training how to hit people. I don’t know anything about fighting. Even that idiot Crag knew at least how to throw a punch.” Gin said.

Huh I wasn’t aware that the Great Forks army was being somewhat selective. Something must have come up, if they weren’t rushing to push cannon fodder out. Then again how was I to know the exact details for the recruiting decisions for the high command of Great Forks’ military?

Still there was something that I could do for Gin. I knew some martial arts, back when my well meaning family signed me up for lessons. Pity my lack of stamina and schooling had me lapse out of it. Still some lessons still around long after instruction has passed. I could at least pass some of those lessons on. Maybe it would even be enough to get Ginseng into the army.

Now to the question of why I was thinking about this in the first place. Don’t know why I feel so driven to help this person, who tried to rob me even. Though I had a sneaking suspicion of what to blame. Damn this bleeding heart tenacity of mine. I really didn’t like seeing people suffer.

However I decided that I might as well get something out of this. In this world I can’t exactly be charitable all the time. I was lacking information. I needed to learn more about who was who currently in the city. In Great Forks. I may have some information about the major players. However that didn’t tell me about the more mortal side of operations that hadn’t gained prominence.

“Well I know some hand to hand techniques. Maybe they’ll get you a second look by those army recruiters.” I said, inwardly cursing the fact I never really paid attention to organization of the military in Exalted.

Though I didn’t have any intentions of setting up an army. I don’t need more targets on the back of my head as it was. “I’m rather new to Great Forks, and don’t know too much how things work here. Now if someone was to help me with that, I’d think my time would be well spent helping such a person look more appealing to Great Forks’ finest.”

Those green eyes that shone with hope gave me my answer. Or maybe it was just the satisfaction of a filling meal. More likely the former with the pleading “Really?” from Gin.

I just hope I don’t regret this.


	4. -------------------Instruction is to both the student and teacher--------------------------

> **Thud. Whump.** Those were the sounds that battered along the walls. Two sets of limbs clashing against each other in a set pattern. The culmination of almost a month’s work.
> 
> This was a recent development among the past few weeks that I had invested into Gin’s training. From the first meeting onward, I started to teach what I still remembered to the man about the bodily art of combat.
> 
> Unfortunately, I had never progressed far enough in my own lessons to be qualified to teach. The only thing I could do was hope I didn’t disgrace what my own sensei taught me.
> 
> We met at the hour when the sun was just barely touching the horizon of the west. A moment when most honest workers had already returned home and the revelers had not yet flocked to the taverns and houses of negotiable intimacy. Blue would never mean the same to me again.
> 
> Coming back to our training time. It was a period where most of my income was off the streets. It was just diminishing returns for my efforts to go out at this time. This time was much better spent on training Gin for his re-attempt to enlist in Great Forks’ army.
> 
> For the first few days, I just put him through light conditioning. Just some exercises to get his body up to strength and the dirt basics of how to roll and footwork. It’s surprising how much a proper base and center of gravity can keep you alive.
> 
> Warmth flowed out through my sternum when Gin took every lesson and integrated it quickly. After just one week I could actually start teaching him further. Useful things like how to punch, kick, throw and blunt weapon training. Mostly just with thin sticks dumped in a corner.
> 
> As Gin advanced, I went over the vital areas that are most often attacked. Groin, solar plexus, eyes, and neck. Locations that when hit often led to fatal complications and immense pain.Though I also covered the lesser areas were still important. Even if hitting them wouldn’t have a large chance of leading to death, a broken foot or a ringing head due to a skull shot makes one vulnerable to the really fatal blows.
> 
> Though I had a vain hope there weren’t really any of the fantastical pressure points in Creation that when tapped would make one’s head explode. Then I remembered this was Exalted, and shivering once or twice in the night resolved to invest heavily in all the dodge charms and maybe expand that tree.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> So within three weeks, I and Gin had started sparring with each other. Well he was mostly flailing at me. More times than I realize, I had unconsciously stepped out or flowed with a blow. Needless to say I really don’t like being hit. But I’ve been told this was a problem, sure I could deal with pain but my tolerance level wasn’t so high in the first place.
> 
> The more concerning thing though was how it disheartened Gin. Seeing not a single hit go through, well I could relate to thinking your efforts showing no signs of improving. I couldn’t let that go, so I bucked up and made sure to slip up and take a hit several times. Never before I had been thankful that my rooms had a washtub that could heated with a little stove built in.
> 
> Indoor plumbing, Sol’s gift to everyone. Though hopefully Gin would soon try and sign up once again for the army.
> 
> In any case while I had been instructing Gin in the fine art of pummeling people with your fists. Though in my case I preferred palm heel strikes. Gin paid for his instruction during the moments when the lanterns were lit and the nightlife wandered the city.
> 
> It was the politics of crime that I got a crash course in. The gangs that infested the city were numerous and impossible to catalog in a short list. When a gang’s could vanish in a span of hours or suddenly reorganize under new leadership. The best that could be done was to keep in mind those gangs that were infamous in the recent gossip or that had concerning agendas.
> 
> Those of the former were of such pleasant names like the Iron Coin Brotherhood and the Blue Scarf Nobles.
> 
> The first group’s claim to fame was apparently taking out one of the fair folk that had found their way in Great Forks. The only thing that tied them to the obliteration of the Prince who Blooms the Wretched Blossoms of Desire was a pair of iron coins among the sparkling dust of broken fantasies. The Iron Coins had sent the guards into a frenzy, a city where spirits took the spotlight of Creation. Previsions for the Fair Folk had been set up and now one of them was dead. Nothing concrete could this gang to the deed but the guards had been rounding up suspected members in any case. Humans that could take out a Fair Folk, I should keep my eyes out for them. Just in case for whatever reason they turn their attention to me.
> 
> I unlike many of my peers past and present, considered humanity to be significant and dangerous. Maybe once the Exalted did, but hubris and the Great Curse stepped in. Or maybe that would be the nature of having phenomenal cosmic power and a projected lifespan longer than a human. Some else to add to my worries
> 
> As for the Blue Scarf Nobles, they fit right into the pleasures of Great Forks. This gang dealt in the trade of flesh. What made their names notable among the many other gangs that dabbled in the same business were the whispers. Hidden but still there, about the odd tenacity for little known members of the Guild to visit the Blue Scarves’ establishments but come out as clean and composed as they came in. A mystery to be sure but I wasn’t very interested in carnal pursuits at the moment. Too busy trying to survive here.
> 
> Coming back to the gangs with odd agendas there were the so called Street Rats, young kids without options in life scurrying throughout the city. It was a strange rumor, sadly children dropping into the streets seemed to a fact of life. Maybe this was just a way for people to rationalize not doing anything for them.  
> There was Dorm 88, a suspected gang made of those sympathizing with slaves. Apparently a dormitory for some of Great Forks’ slave labor had burned down under uncertain circumstances. Shortly after, the foundation of Great Forks, its slave labor was assaulted. Nothing too serious, slaves hadn’t gone missing in the night. But overseers had been attacked or robbed. The qat supplies, drugs used to keep the slaves docile, had been broken into and fouled. More drugs had to be purchased at great cost from the Guild. The guards had investigated the family of those slaves that died during the fire of dormitory 88 but nothing had turned up yet.
> 
> The most important piece of information was that there were humans running rings around the guards, who if I remembered were mostly terrestrial gods and elementals. Which was astonishing on several levels. One was that humans were evading beings more enlightened and possessing supernatural advantages. Then again spirits were rather known to be lacking in matters outside their sphere of influence. There were exceptions of course but they were overwhelmed by the slothful majority.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> Now while the criminal element was important to me on a daily basis. I couldn’t neglect the politics of the gods and elementals that were here. After all this was the city of temples, I’d be a total idiot not to listen to what the street was saying about the gods.
> 
> There wasn’t much from what Gin picked up from where he went when we didn’t have our training. So with the shadowlands nearby and the army at its nadir, the city needed materials to keep the restless dead at bay. There had been an influx of the gods of salt coming in dressed in the fashions popular on the Blessed Isle
> 
> But the big talk on the street was that apparently a Celestial god high in position had been looking into property here. Nobody knew this god’s identity or reasons. In truth the rumors seemed to come from nowhere. But they persisted regardless and unsettled some of the terrestrial gods.
> 
> Related to the subject of gods and Great Forks. Even while it was celebrated as a nation of culture and depravity. It had its very vocal critic in the Immaculate Order. The subtle velvet hand of the Empire and the Bronze faction had their presence here. Though their lectures and sermons here were soft and fell to mostly deaf ears. Divine ones at least, and those mortals who were receptive kept silent.
> 
> So far those monks of the order had to be content with their small audience. I kept out of sight and out of mind of them. While the gods allowed the order to stay much to their displeasure, the confirmed appearance of a solar here would lead to reports, which would get back to the Wyld Hunt. The end result of being discovered would be the little hospitality here so far given to me would be politically unfeasible and having my identity exposed. At this moment I wasn’t ready for even that.I had to stay out of their way, totally and completely for now.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> If only it could be that easy for trouble was more or less in the air. During the night when the daystar had sunken, my astrology studies had borne fruit, difficult as it was. The study of the tapestry in the sky was much more complex than it first appeared. While the sun, moon and stars had general paths in the dome of heaven. They could change course and the constellations along with the heavenly bodies could shift meaning entirely depending on relative positions and angles.
> 
> I could make horoscopes so far, but they gave very little helpful information. All covered with metaphor, guesswork and symbolism. Honestly what am I supposed to make of Venus in the array of the rising smoke. Where the pillar was juxtaposed with the sword. Mars’ influence is negated by being at its nadir in relation of the stars of the house of serenity. The banner and spear were above the city with mercury shining yellow among the shield. Jupiter was nowhere to be found.
> 
> All I could tell peaceful times weren’t in my future what with venus in a saturn constellation and mars’ domain above the city. Maybe I should stay off the streets for the moment and look into a promising lead. A rather dusty old record of Great Fork’s history among the books that were being rebound. An Anathema that had died before to the Wyld Hunt’s blades had been buried in a tiny barrow that lay under the foundations of Great Forks. If I had checked the maps of the city correctly. It could be accessed with some slight effort from the water corridors underneath Great Forks. No time like soon to go digging for artifacts.
> 
>  


	5. Part Five  ---The road of curiosity is paved with pitfalls------------------------------

Part Five   
\------------------The road of curiosity is paved with pitfalls------------------------------

It took time to prepare for my tomb raiding. Of course I couldn’t just run on half cocked and unprepared. That more often than not led to horrible things happening and having nothing on hand to deal with obstacles that came up. So the next few days saw some purchases split over several stores. A roll of rope there, a few knives purchased there. A few aromatics from the alchemist and bandages among the grocery shopping.

Though I never would have thought it would be so difficult to get a pick axe due to some prospectors taboos. Not that I could understand how never piercing stone would keep the warping influence of the Wyld away.

In the meanwhile I finished what I started in instructing my human student. Gin’s lessons had turned out nicely enough that I could feel confident that he should be taken into the army. Our training sessions left him drenched in rivers running down his limbs’ ridges. I myself was quite winded at the end, occasionally hacking from sudden intakes of needed air. 

“So I believe you are ready for what the army can throw at you now.” I said, cooling down from what would be our final lesson for the coming weeks. 

“Yes… It won’t be likely that we would meet each other again.” Ginseng said looking away east, where the army barracks were stationed. 

My feet slowed in their pace. Over time in between exercises, both student and teacher had exchanged words for the of respect and concern for each other. I found out more about Gin than he did about me. At least I believed so, I was always rather vague in my answers. Though it would be a cold day in Malfeas before anybody would believe my origins in Creation. 

Coming back to the important part, Gin had no other family left. His mother had wasted way, pining for the return of one who bought her for one night. His memory kept lingering in her mind and led to her death. Yet it was that same thing that kept Ginseng alive until today. 

Alone in the world yet still Gin wished to join the army to make something of himself instead of diving deep into the world of crime. I could respect that. It lent meaning to the training I gave him. I hoped life would end up much better for him now. 

I told him as much, even in the middle of realizing our paths were unlikely to cross again. He left with thanks on his lips and determination. All I could do was go back to preparing to do what I should for Creation. 

It was as good an excuse I could give for grave robbing. 

I had made some conclusions about the defenses of the tomb I would be ransacking. This came from hours of research into burial customs, defenses common to the time period and the circumstances behind the deceased. Apparently it was a troubled time when my target died, well before the founding of Great Forks. The tomb wouldn’t be elaborate, or else it would have made for more mentions, probably as a landmark or scrapped down more materials/ The lack of an inventory for such gave little chance for the latter fate. 

An assumption, weak as it was, I made was that defenses for this tomb would be simple or likely already in decay. If it was a troubled period where the tomb’s owner died, well his killers wouldn’t have spent too much time in building an elaborate tomb. It would be functional most likely, strong thick walls and simple but brutal defenses. Anything complex would have long fallen apart by now. Of course there could be demons doing maintenance on traps but I could hope the slain didn’t merit that much. For try as I might I never saw any mention of a name or title for the body.

However I was discreet in these inquires. There was no point in trying to point a target saying, possible anathema wanting fantastical artifacts to destroy Creation on my back. As for why that conclusion could be drawn instead of me being another regular scavenger of ancient tombs. Well sidereals answered that question. I could never be too sure how much notice I would draw on the Loom so better safe than sorry.

I put my money where my mouth was in practicing being unnoticed. A mere leaf upon the river rapids. Who would notice the leaf tossed about the waves when the fish jumped and insects hovered over the face of the waters. Anybody trying to search for me would have more interesting things to notice instead of presentless me. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The time came for a walk towards the western part of the city, past the houses of learning. Deeper into the markets of drugs and other goods. My destination was in between the buildings proper and the shantytowns on the outskirts of Great Forks. There were too many people, spirits or humans, to reside in the city. There was only so much physical and spiritual space to take up.

So just before the border of the walls rose the city surrounding the city. Fields of tents where the occasional cluster of buildings broke the fields of color. Walking among the edges of the streets.had me less slowed by the masses of people partying, drinking, dosing or going to work.

I didn’t want to be noticed, so I wasn’t. People's eyes just slid over my position and moved out the way without paying attention. I was counting the buildings and keeping landmarks in sight. All the while I was keeping my goal in mind. An easy access point to the sewer lines.

It had taken several hours worth of tracing the maps of the city compared to the public records of the water and waste lines. I had needed a starting point that was close enough to where the last recorded spot of the tomb was. However I didn’t want to be so close that somebody would follow me straight to it. Neither did I wish to spend excessive amounts of time getting there as a further but safer entrance would be. 

Warehouses where pelts were stored for tanning made for a haphazard path. I didn’t need to rush too much and I didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention. I was close to my chosen service hatch, only several crates were slowing my progress. I weaved through the walls of boxes not letting my guide marks out of sight. No need to start a trail to follow by asking for directions. 

“That brat’s here somewhere! Tear this place apart until you get him.” A gruff voice nailed with murder said. It broke me out my calm pace.

I paused, had I been noticed? It shouldn’t be possible. Throughout my body, I had felt a flow of non-interest radiate out of me. Nothing came to mind to what could have drawn the attention of that voice. 

With patient heel steps to prevent the slapping of my soles on the ground I inched around the source of the voice. At least in this way I could hear their intentions After some consideration and testing the crates for any creaking. I made them platforms for higher ground, thankfully they were sized and arranged that it was more like walking than climbing. 

From my vantage point, I could see that the men scattered below were thugs. I could see no marks for gang affiliation. That didn’t mean that these people didn’t belong to an organized group. 

“Spread out and find that kid. We bring him back and we’ll eat well tonight men.” The tallest, most scarred and fiercest of them said. Obviously he was the leader what with wearing a finer quality of canvas trousers and woolen overshirt. 

Out of corner of my eye, to the right below cowering in the shadow of crates was who was mostly likely these men’s target.There was one of the unfortunate street children who seemed to have longer and more pointed ears than normal. He didn’t seem to have the looks of inhuman and spiteful perfection like the fair folk though. 

He looked afraid but stayed where he was, placing himself in an unregarded corner. Dusty and smelling of improperly stored animal skins, I noted he along with the thugs were breathing heavily. A chase of some sort? But why? Something about the words of the thugs leader troubled me. Then it came to me that whatever the reason for the victim being chased, it probably wasn’t due to any responsibility on his part. 

I crouched there on my perch, bitter at those scum down there who with each minute appeared to be chasing that guy for nothing more than money. Yet how could I help that person? I didn’t like the number against me. Furthermore, I still wanted to keep my identity a secret. I couldn’t exactly show my non-existent solar combat prowess. Sure I could excel in nearly anything that caught my interest. But that took time and I didn’t feel any sudden spark of martial inspiration. 

Well except when tutoring Gin but I couldn't be sure if I should ascribe that to my exaltation. 

As I stood on the edge and wondered if I should throw a shower of pebbles as a distraction. A difference to the street kid’s situation drew my gaze to them. There was another person next to the hiding youth. 

No sign was given to how this person found the thugs’ target. Neither did this person, registering between female and male to me, seem to have ill intentions towards the hiding man. After all there no cries that the boy was over there. 

Indecision gripped my ankles, how could I help? What did this second person garbed in such luminous silver want?

I peeked out slightly to get a closer look at this person

Have you ever encountered a large breed of dog? One whose appearance more resembles their lupine ancestors than their modern day canine counterparts. 

There’s a certain feeling one can get when meeting an unknown member of such a breed. Huge and ready to pounce. In one’s hindbrain where all the primal instincts get together. There’s a screaming debate of the dog’s intentions. Whether it’s to jump on you in affection or to rip your face off like it was prime meat at the butcher. 

A certain amount of feralness in that stranger’s face gave me the impression it was the latter. A certain playfulness in those eyes made my heart skip as they seemed to meet my face. This person couldn't tell where I was could they?

However they turn their attention to the one hiding below. Their hands cupping the young man’s face almost like a mother. That stranger seemed to whisper something that I could not overheard. Whatever it was, it was probably important from the awed and reverent look in the man’s eyes. I felt rather unsettled, like peering in on a deeply personal reminiscence or private mystery. 

The sudden blinding flash of silver light bursting through the crates sure was distracting though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again I wished my glasses had transitional lenses. I didn’t do so well with sudden bright light, awkward for a chosen of the sun. Blinking spots out my eyes quickly, the sight below me quickly sent the beginnings of a headache blossoming from the base of my neck.

Standing out in the open exposed was the man being hunted by those thugs. The stranger was nowhere in sight. Not that anybody would notice what with the towering pulse of silver light shining strongly against the shadows of the crates. 

He was still with his jaw dropped, looking at his hands with all the grace and wonder of a newly born child. Totally vulnerable to the attention of the hired muscle. Their reaction had changed though and with good reason.

“Anathema!” Was the cry that echoed across the walls and buildings. The majority of those searching the warehouse pallets and crates fled from that place. Their leader cursed the fleeing.

“Come back here you miserable maggots!” A rather nasty looking gnarled club was hoisted in his hand. “It’s only newly emerged, we can take him out fast. And we’ll be paid double, no triple his price!” The leader’s eyes burned full of greed to drown out any fear. 

Several of the thugs had rallied behind their leader. I myself fought back a hiss. The young guy down there had exalted, most likely a lunar by the color of his anima. This really made trying to rescue him much harder. While I wouldn’t begrudge him phenomenal cosmic power, if he hadn’t exalted I could have distracted the thugs and he’ll get away scot free. 

Well there was nothing to be done about this change in the situation but try another route. As the thug leader approached the shining man. I whipped out one of my knives and hurled it towards the thug all while diving down to the ground.

It was a graceless toss, more of a shove really, of one of my knives towards their leader. Honestly it would make a dour earth aspect laugh himself into hysterics at how clumsy a so called anathema was. I was just as surprised as my target when my single knife ended up slicing a wide gash through his arm and chest. The blood spewing out upon the dry dirt, the smell of exposed iron floating about. 

Scrabbling across the ground and resolving to learn at least some more control over my own body. My racing body grabbed the shoulder of the still dazed new exalted and started hauling him around. Sure I was about as strong as the next person maybe even less. But panic and the fact that the normal people that live on the streets don’t get the full three meals a day had me being able to force him into a reasonable escape pace.

It helped that the shrieking curses of the thug leader for medical aid distracted any pursuit. Crates and walls rushed by but I still held the directions I needed to follow. Left, third passage, below the awning of Black Elk’s, there! There was the goal I was headed for, my original destination and now an emergency hiding place. A maintenance hatch for the water system below the city.

The hatch was heavy much heavier than anything I’d ever lifted before. Yet my limbs still rode the high of fleeing. It slammed open though a slight twinge in my lower back warned I was pushing dangerously close to my fleshy limits, regardless of superpowers. I still shoved the other guy, only slightly protesting, wondering who the heck I was. He didn’t argue or try to break out of my grip roughly. Apparently taking him away from his hunters gave him some sort of trust towards me, questions about my identity notwithstanding. I just pushed him down into the darkness banished by the glow of his soul and slammed the hatch door behind me. 

Things just got more complicated.


	6. Part Six ---In Which Being Fallible is Inevitable Despite All Caution--------------------------

Part Six  
\--------------------In Which Being Fallible is Inevitable Despite All Caution--------------------------   
Within the tunnels under the city, water flowed freely. The precious liquid carried along channels throughout the city. Where there is water there is life with all that entails. Thankfully I had a scarf that had been infused with certain essential oils. Now instead of the smell of damp and microorganisms. My nose dealt instead with the aroma of mint and chamomile. 

Along the walls softly glowed inscriptions. I couldn’t tell exactly what was their function as they were in a language I couldn’t read. Though from the appearances of the pictographs, I could guess that the words engraved on the walls were in Old Realm. 

The light from the engravings gently shimmered on the surface of the pure clear water. Though I really didn’t need the light from the possible thaumaturgy upon the walls or the light that could have been given by my caste mark. A bonfire of silver light behind me took care of that.

Constantly to dog my footsteps was the lunar that I saved. For some odd reason of his own, he was still here instead of leaving Great Forks. “Shouldn’t you be getting out of the city?” I said, turning right at the trio of waxy gray pipes.

“Who, who are you? Why did you save me.” His voice started out weak but gained in volume with every word. Apparently exaltation gave something of an emotional rush which I could actually see now. 

“Well I could use a torch.” I said back. “And do I honestly need a reason to save somebody?” 

He looked at me oddly, I tried to keep an eye out for what his tell was. The mystical sign of Luna’s champions that gave a hint of their beastly nature “The answer is yes, so just give a minute or so to think of one.” I said, unable to see what this guy’s totem animal was.

“You’re rather strange.” The lunar said

“That’s humanity in a nutshell for you.” Trying to keep from losing the path underground, I took out the notes I wrote out for this tomb delve. Thankfully I didn’t turn left at the large circular pool.

It took some time before he said “But you still didn’t answer me, who are you?”

“You didn’t answer my question of why aren’t you going into hiding?” I said, “The immaculate order will probably hear about you. And you know what comes after when the immaculate order hears of an ‘anathema’”

”I can’t get out of here without your help.“ He said.

“You’re a chosen of Luna!” Looking back over my shoulder. “They’re all about survival, you can’t just tell me you don’t feel any sort of instincts on how to get out here.”

He remained silent as we walked past the falling streams of water. “Honestly you don’t have any sort of feeling of how to leave here? What’s your totem animal anyway? Changing into that would help a lot more especially not being recognized” I asked.

The lunar stopped and I felt more than heard, the twisting of bones and flesh. The change in mass and shape where tissues were repurposed and one anatomy was exchanged with another. When that changed to silence broken by the sounds of light flapping, I turned back.

What there was in the water corridor was a small hovering bat throwing silver beams all around the stone brickwork. “Okay then, so a bat’s your totem animal, surely you can find your way out with that right?” I went to walk around but instead of the soft flapping receding, it remained constant. 

“I owe a debt to you” The bat said. 

“How would you know about life debts?” I almost stopped there but kept up my pace. I’d preferred not to stay away any longer than needed. Something was odd about this “Besides they only count when they deal with lunars anyway.”

His flapping didn’t vanish even with that information. “My name’s Pip.”

My ankles almost twisted. “How did that come about?” My disbelief blowing away any good sense. 

Pip was silent for some time before saying “My mother said she never could have pronounced what my voice actually sounded like.” His voice broke off. It appeared that I touched on a painful subject and I could feel he was at least honest about what he said. 

I waited before saying “Call me Fung if you wish.”

He kept flapping and lit the way ahead. “So where are you headed anyway.” Pip said.

“I hoping to fetch something.” I said.

“Down here?” Tiny leathery wings kept him level to my face. A batty eyebrow rose at my reason for being in the underground water system. “What could you possibly want around here? There’s just water everywhere.”

“Something worth coming down here I hope.” We went deeper into the complex of pipes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By passing through a vine covered arch, we reached the tomb I had found records of. Though I could see a reason for why it would remain in obscurity. 

This tomb was more a plain set of rock slabs tossed without care on top of each other. None of the slabs showed any signs of masonry. In truth nobody would notice this pile of rocks having any significance if you didn’t have solar bullshit or a map.

There was nothing to show this was a tomb or how the deceased inside was regarded. Except for a certain stone plate near eroded by the passage of time. I edged carefully near it while Pip kept floating over my shoulder. 

It wasn’t in a language I could recognize clearly. However to my surprise I could understand some of the words within the passage carved on that stone slate. What I could understand spoke that somebody was lying here, his title was of one that was ensnared by the deceptions of a name completely blotted out. Though there was a few characters that strung together referred to a bird of sharp eyes. Sadly that could have meant anything without any context to whom those words referred to. 

There was an odd epilogue beseeching the dragons to strive towards his salvation. I wondered at that. I didn’t remember the Immaculate Order being so concerned with the afterlife of the anathema. They more or less built tombs and stuffed it with riches and artifacts just to keep hungry ghosts of solars at bay. 

“You’re a scavenger?” Pip said, his eyes directed at the lines of the text. I had almost forgotten he was still following me. 

“Not really, so what language is this anyway?” I ran my fingers over the smooth grooves of the text. My hope was that Pip wouldn’t look too deeply into the reason for why I wanted to loot this tomb. I didn’t have what any idea of what Pip actually thought of me. 

The stray thought that he actually believed I was an elder lunar who would spirit him away came up and was discarded. I was pretty sure I disproved that with all my protests to Pip following me.   
I carefully tossed some pebbles into the entrance of the tomb. Nothing happened.

Pip articulated toes grabbed onto a pipe. I saw him tilt his head at me and to the tile. I knew contrary to what was commonly believed, bats actually had normal eyesight. “If I’m reading this correctly, this a dialect of high realm, used more or less six hundred years ago. Only because of the odd use of that noun.”

So I could understand a bit of high realm then. Not that I understood why. Riverspeak being a creation analogue to english I could probably understand. But my small understanding of high realm didn’t make sense to me. Unless high realm also had something in common to what other languages I knew.. But hey I wasn’t a linguist, and creation worked on different rules as it was. 

“You sure you will be fine going there” Pip said, but he didn’t budge from his perch above me. I couldn’t really determine what expression bats have. However I wondered, was that concern? It didn’t really make sense to me. 

Some sand was taken out of a pouch I kept at the back of my belt. With a single sweep I scattered it as evenly and as far as possible. If there was something invisible, it would probably leave some sort of sign. But nothing happened. “I’ll be fine” I said. The fact that this was a hope instead of a confident assurance, I kept to myself. 

“Don’t die on me.” Pip said. “I don’t think I can get out of here by myself and I still owe you a debt.” he took one look at my face and said “whether you think so or not.”

I nodded without too much attention to what he said. I had spent too much time on this endeavor to back out now. While saving the life of a fellow exalt was nice, especially if it didn’t seem like he wanted to kill me, I wanted to at least get something out of this project I invested. 

I had done all I could think of to check for mundane traps. I didn’t know any means to cancel magical traps. I could only trust in my enhanced skill at evasion. “Honestly it’s not like I’m trying to get myself killed here. Besides I pretty sure more experienced lunars will track you down easily to pick you soon.” I said. I probably had to worry about keeping myself out of their attention if I got out the tomb alive. 

Though I suspected Pip knew he was going to be picked. His odd declaration of a debt stuck to me. It wouldn’t be something known to the common person on the street. So how did Pip know about that particular part of Lunar culture? 

I shook my head to focus on the more pressing task, trying to infiltrate and loot a tomb possibly built with features to keep people out. A few hesitant steps took me forward. The light that shone from Pip’s body remained steady. My shadow cast itself upon the undisturbed sandy floor. My skin felt clammy, probably from the stress of finally deciding to take action.

I felt something unsettle beneath my foot. Then it came, the rumbling from above and the walls began to crash around me.


	7. Part Seven -------------------The Treasures and Troubles Under the Earth---------------------------

Part Seven  
\-------------------The Treasures and Troubles Under the Earth---------------------------

The earth began crumbling all around me. A single misstep unforeseen had set off this trap. A deadfall of rocks to crush any mortal seeking what lay inside this tomb. 

While it would catch a mortal off guard, I had been changed to something more than that. A champion of the gods, chosen of the Unconquered Sun. 

The very moment when whatever mechanism released this deadly hail of stone My body realized the danger and my limbs scrambled to take me out of their path. 

Slipping through those boulders, I was dancing in a rain of earth without getting wet with crushing force. My path took me back away from the tomb’s entrance. When the dust settled not a single rock had my crushed body underneath it. My breath was uneven, not from the excitement of a challenge or the realization that I was alive. It was from the thought that if I was just a regular human, I should have died. It drove in my head that I really was in Creation.

The only only other disturbance in the tunnels under Great Forks was Pip’s flapping beside my head. There was a certain buzz in my ears until I realized its true identity. A maddened barrage of chatter that drilled a direct line through my ear with one single inquiry. Whether or not if I was alright. 

“No worries Pip. I'm unharmed.” I straightened, my hands were on my knees. My hood had still remained in place in spite of all the motion I went through. Still I straightened it with a quivering hand. 

“Maybe you shouldn't go in, you barely made it out with your life.” Pip said, circling my head. 

“It’ll be fine, we’ve come this far now.” I said, taking the lead back inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stillness filled the darker cavern within. Pip had followed me inside, his anima still shining. To be honest I was thankful that he came into the burial chamber with me. I wouldn’t have to light up the place myself and wait awkwardly around this grave until my caste mark vanished.

Furthermore the company was welcome in this unknown place. The inside of the tomb was a large rough domed chamber, the shape composed of slabs heaped upon slabs. The weight of those heavy rocks keeping the whole structure in place. Yet with my inexpert eyes, even I could see that this was unpolished work. Honestly I questioned whether or not did the wyld hunt even try to make a tomb to appease the ghost of whoever they killed.

At the wall furthest from us, there was a dais of a single slab of dark gray stone. I guessed the material was granite. It was merely a guess from the rough texture of its surface.

Yet what was of more interest was what was on that dais. It was a single coffin, a plain and simple box made of polished rock slabs paler than the dais it rested on. The coffin didn’t seem like it housed the body of somebody important to the wild hunt’s eyes. In truth it looked shabby due to the years of dust on its surface. 

At our entrance, nothing seemed to be disturbed. No reanimated shambling body broke out of the coffin, no ghost materialized before us, hungry or otherwise maddened by the ages and our trespass. Whoever this person was, they probably had long gone into reincarnation or Oblivion, hopefully.

After the collapsing ceiling I was more wary of where I placed my feet. I still kept up my habits to keep an eye for tripwires. “I don’t suppose you found anything to worry about in here?” I asked Pip. 

His spirit animal was a bat, with senses much more refined than a regular human’s. Sure glorious solar magic could eventually outclass Pip’s current sensory ability. Yet even the exaltation of a solar could only push my abilities to superhuman levels. Powers that belong to a nature outside of humanity’s condition were elusive, except for a price that was too high to pay in my opinion. However at the moment I had not reached that point yet, if ever. . 

“Nothing I could tell. ” Pip said as he flew about near the ceiling. Lucky him, he got to avoid all the floor based traps. 

I could only trust in my skills, and hope I was prepared enough. Every step was tested, and the slightest shifting of the ground had me step back quickly. Even if it was just the shifting of dust beneath my foot, meter by nerve racking meter I made my way across the room. I had just went a few steps in when my next foot forward was followed by some grinding noise approaching from the walls. 

I had barely gotten myself forward when a wall of spears jotted out from the floor. Thus began a frantic dash over to the coffin. Several times I stepped on more pressure plates that triggered more rusty spears to pop up. I heard mechanical jamming while several of the traps began to spasm between being deployed and resetting. Several hundred years with no maintenance really did a number on these traps. 

The coffin stood before us with no other traps in sight. Now when I looked at it, the coffin was way too simple to appease any sort of exalted ghost. A single heavy block was the lid hiding the body from view. It’s very appearance was of crushing weight holding something in. The sheer weight was not something I could lift. Then again my bodily strength was probably less than most guys. 

What burial goods that were interred in here thankfully wasn’t in the coffin. What objects of value had been piled behind the coffin. It was all piled in a small sad heap, no amount of care given to it. I was careful in rummaging through the stuff, a few gentle breaths scattering the dust.. 

Suddenly I found myself holding a plain white mask. The material composing it was smooth and light, it reminded me of porcelain. Yet it didn’t seem delicate but instead this felt quite sturdy to my hands. There didn’t seem to be any other ornamentation under the naked eye but I felt this mask was more than it appeared. After all it remained pristine in spite of the ages. 

There was a cracked stone, bright white against the dusky gray. A single crack that struck through the rock. Yet it was not wide enough to shatter it completely. Musty loaves crumbled apart at my touch. Small icons of clay had their original forms rendered unrecognizable.Three dull crystals lay stacked together. All along their surface ran thin lines of gold in simple patterns.

Most of everything here had long single decayed to dust. I dropped a set of rusty skewers. Their purpose completely unknown to me. Out of everything in that pile, only the mask and crystals interested me. I tucked them into my belt bag and turned to leave.

A small clink from behind had me turning. There was the young man I had saved earlier instead of a bat. Pip had picked up that cracked rock. “You don’t want this?” He asked.

I considered the question. That stone might have some value. After all Pip had picked it and asked why I didn’t wish to take it with me. 

It came down to the little matter that I only experienced Creation as an outside observer. The reminder that I could miss something due to lack of context wasn’t lost on me. There really wasn’t anything I could do about that except living more in Creation. 

A quick blink finalized my decision. “I’ve got what I wanted from here. If you want it, feel free” I was satisfied with what I had gained. “I’m done here ” I said, leaving the tomb behind with Pip trailing behind me. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our exit was not a reversed trail of the way we had entered the water tunnels in the first place. For one thing, there was probably an investigation underway in that general area. Unfortunately I had probably aggravated the situation with my assault of that gang leader. An anathema appearing could probably be dismissed as a fanciful report out in Great Forks. The prevalence of essence users in this city would muddle any sort of attempt of an anathema sighting. As long as nobody important was hurt, I would guess that the wyld hunt would consider sightings in Great Forks to be a low priority, unless a sidereal’s attention was triggered

Yet somebody who had some reputation, which as a gang leader should eventually have, being wounded while an anathema was said to be sighted. That meant trouble, especially for me. So avoiding the warehouse district was just common sense. Thankfully I had prepared my exit route long in advance. 

Our walk had us take more left turns into diagonal tunnels. As we went further, the water corridors had faded runes and moss had overtaken several inches of stone. When we finally reached the metal maintenance hatch, it had rusted over. A few firm kicks that sent my foot slightly aching left it ajar enough that I could heave it out of the way. 

The sun’s light that greeted us was orange, and the garb that most people wore that walked the streets was rough and stained with the dust of the earth. It was only a short walk from where my quarters were from here. 

I looked to see what Pip would do now but he had gone. 

Well it was for the best, he gets to escape and I have to deal with a possible wyld hunt looking for one of the anathema here. Honestly saving people was so much trouble.

Well it wasn’t as if anybody had caught sight of my face yet, there was that at least. 

It was only after I had walked several lengths that I noted there was an irregular tugging in the folds of my cloak. 

When I looked at the source of this weight, a cheerful bat face greeted me. “So what’s the plan now?” Pip asked me. 

“Hopefully it involves finding out just why are you hanging off of me?” I said.

“Well it’ll look odd if you’re being followed by a bat in the middle of the day, so it’ll be better to hide here until we get to your place.” He said. Honestly it was the start of the 17th hour of the day, as my exaltation stated. Just barely the start of the evening. A bat wouldn’t look too much out of place at this hour. 

I huffed slightly and continued walking. The people around me were at ease. I took that as a sign that the little incident in the western quarter hadn’t reached here yet. The best case scenario would be that nobody would make a fess about what had happened earlier. Though I didn’t have much hope for that happening. 

The door to my apartment was right in front of me when I realized something. Why did I lead Pip to where I lived? Furthermore why was he still following me after all this time? I thought he would leave right as soon as we broke to the surface. Yet the largest question of all was why was I still thinking about letting him in? It wasn’t my intention to let Pip know anything more about me.

So was this what it was like when you get hit by magical mental influence? It made more sense now about how something like senseless mind control by the exalted could operate.I decided that while I could break free of whatever magical persuasion that I’ve been hit with. It would be best not to exert my free will over whatever lunar powers Pip used. 

So far he didn’t seem to suspect me of being a solar. I didn’t want to give him any evidence to guess otherwise.

“Well here it is, home sweet home.” I said, opening the door letting us both inside.

I sighed as Pip flew out of my cloak to make himself at home in the rafters. Honestly I hoped he wouldn’t make any more trouble for me, or at least until whatever lunar came to pick him up. I went to set myself up with a calm cup of tea. At least so I could buy some time to think. 

There was knock at the door. My hand shot to the hidden dagger hidden within my cloak’s folds. The terrifying thought that I had been found out raced in and then out of my mind. If it was the city’s guards that had discovered my part in what happened this morning. They probably wouldn’t show the courtesy of knocking at my door.

Slowly I went to greet whoever had came to visit. “Do I have the pleasure of speaking to the resident of these apartments?” A very tall bat headed man dressed in otherworldly but expensive fashions said. He had the look of sharp humor built on a foundation of knowing things people didn’t wish for him to know. 

I just couldn’t get a break could I?


	8. Part Eight -----The Nature of Life is Surprise --------------

Part Eight  
\----------------------------The Nature of Life is Surprise -------------------------------------------------  
A large bat walked in through my door. Note that this wasn’t the most bizarre thing that had happened to me this day. I had saved a lunar, gotten the city whipped up into a frenzy, and now apparently gotten the attention of some sort of beastman or spirit. Either one meant trouble for me in any case.

The little detail of Pip hanging around in the rafters was just a pebble to the new rock in my sandal. 

In any case, my unexpected visitor had walked in past me through the door. It wasn’t like there was much I could do to stop him. Well as a solar there were probably many things I could have done. Physical combat, witty dialogue, dramatic misdirection were among my options to make this bat person leave. 

The problem was I had no idea why he was here. Unless I knew what was his intention for visiting me, I didn’t know how to approach the situation. Attacking him straight out for now was out of the question. If I did that, it would draw attention I really didn’t need right now.

He looked unimpressed at the surroundings, his eyes had the air of the affluent. I got the feeling that whoever this was, he followed standards. Now that I looked more closely, his clothes were an unearthly cut and expensive. I mainly noticed that they would bankrupt any mortal royal household for a similar outfit. I guessed that he was likely this was a god of some sort. I didn’t notice any elemental manifestations around to make me think that this person was a elemental. 

Then he looked at me and my back started to chill and stick to my clothes. A certain piece of information came to the forefront of my mind. Spirits had a charm called Measure the Wind. In its most basic form it allowed the spirit to detect essence users and what type of essence they used. If this spirit used that then I would be exposed. My only hope was that this god didn’t need that charm for his duties. 

He sat down, wrinkling his nose leaf. “I don’t suppose you noticed anything about that ruckus in the warehouse district.” He asked

My spine had stiffened harder. How did he trace me? More importantly how much did he know about me? My only option, unleash as much bovine excrement at the situation as possible. I felt my posture change, and I felt that a certain approach was needed if I was to get this to work.

“Greetings Honored One, this one known as Fung doesn’t know much about the event, was anybody injured?” I said. 

He seemed to be more interested in the view outside than me. “Nobody important was injured ” He said “Just some human gang leader. The more interesting piece of news was what he was claiming.”

“And what would be this claim Honored one?” I said. 

“That’s the interesting part, apparently he was chasing an anathema that attacked him.” He said still nameless to myself. 

“Hmm really? It would this one’s guess that he’s merely saving face.” I considered what would happen if events had followed the scenario that I made up. 

“One means if he was attacked and hurt by somebody he most likely tried to rob. Well he probably wouldn’t be able to hold his position to those who would see this as a weakness. It it was an anathema that attacked him. He could be excused.” I said

“Possible, but the man further claims it was one of the moon mad and that is drawing the attention of certain undesirable elements to this city.” He said. “They’re searching for any news of that anathema right now.”

“The moon mad are shapeshifters correct? I don’t suppose they found him or her because they don’t know that anathema’s shape?” I said.

“Correct. What would you do if this anathema appeared before you.” He said looking sidelong at me. 

“I would not presume to know, one has been taught to resist and ignore them to the best of one’s ability. What do these questions have to do with this one in any case? ” I frowned, my hood kept my upper face from this spirit’s sight..

“Would you give their location to the Order?” He said

“I do not see how this question is relevant to me. Why should I or should not report this anathema if I see him or her? I don’t want to be bothered by matters not relating to me.” I went up to grab the pot of boiling water to make tea. 

“Many would see the benefits of allying with one of the anathema. After all one would receive the gratitude of those in power.” His amber colored eyes drilled towards the hood obscuring my eyes.. “Compared to the terrible things that happen to those that betray them.”

I couldn’t tell what this bat was getting at. What was his intention? It seemed like he wanted to me to protect the anathema, as if if I know them. Well it was true that I did know the anathema, one named Pip up in my ceiling. But what was this bat’s angle?

“I don’t understand why you wish to speak to me of these affairs. I don’t even know your name.” I said, offering him a teacup.

“Some determined you would be the best person to be informed of this.” He said. He rose to leave behind the steaming cup of tea.

“What’s your reason for telling me this?” I said as he opened the door to leave. 

“Are you questioning a god?” He loved over his shoulder to give a laugh. “It’s personal.” That sound didn’t leave me as I took a sip of tea to quiet my pulse. More questions remained for me than answers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One week passed and the situation at my apartments didn’t change much. 

Both of us were busy during this time period. I had asked Pip for any information of my enigmatic visitor. But he didn’t seem to know whoever came in, however he did confirm that my visitor was most likely a god. 

Pip didn’t seem to be too worried about the conversation I had with that bat god. The lunar stated if it was a god they didn’t seem to be an ally to the Immaculate order. He knew that some gods were allies to the Lunars. It was another innocuous statement that had me wondering if there was some deeper relationship Pip had with a lunar or the silver pack earlier. 

I was also more worried about the fact that the god seemed to know about Pip in the first place. The fact that he somehow tied a relationship between Pip and me. This sent me into making evacuation plans to get out the city at a moment’s notice. 

Otherwise, Pip went out to talk with members of the gang he belonged to. They were the apparently the so called street rats whose activities had traveled around the gossip circuits. Pip wanted to tell them about his change. Apparently they could be trusted with the information of his status of a champion of Luna. He kept on transforming into a bat to sneak out to meet his companions during the night.

I had some arguments with him on that. However he promised me that he would not reveal that I was sheltering him. It wasn’t like I could do anything to stop him without compromising myself. Still as long as he was cautious and didn’t betray me, I would allow him to go. It wasn’t as if I had any right to control his life. 

“Just be careful, you know if you change too much, you’ll mutate.” I often said that before he left for his meetings. He kept on downplaying the danger and I could only hope that some lunar pack would pick him up soon. Dealing with a chimera that I once saved wasn’t on the list of things I would look forward to.

I went to train myself against the troublesome times to come. Preparation had become even more important with all the chaos that was soon to be approaching. Still life went on in the city of Great Forks as the new drug and food crops rose their healthy and vibrant sprouts.

There was an unfortunate discovery over the week, training by myself was terribly lonely. While I practiced my forms and methods of conflict avoidance, the empty solitude around me uneased my soul. 

So in between self improvement session, I kept my ears out on the street for news. Apparently my intervention at the West Quarter didn’t go unnoticed. The bat spirit’s words had truth to them. The claims of that thug leader had reached the Immaculate Order stationed here.

Now their few monks and priests had a vested interest in the investigation the assault. Apparently the guards were playing off the attack as a gang operation gone wrong. However the order members didn’t seem to accept this in the least. The immaculates were sitting on this information for now. But the chance of an appearance by the Wyld Hunt was higher, especially since the Empress’ presence still kept that organization in prestige. 

Though as preliminary reports of the Great Forks’ situation headed realmward, news of the war in the north returned. Apparently the Bull of the North was making a presence with the icewalker tribes. He seemed to be carving a place to create a civilization among the icy flats. As expected the Realm would not tolerate a nation ruled by an anathema. Now it was said that the majority tepet legions were going out to support the effort to slaughter the bull of the north’s forces and correct the mortals of their misguided ways. 

If my information was still correct, eventually Tepet Ara- what’s his name will join them eventually as a general. Then all of the tepet legions will be disastrously wiped out to a man by the bull of the north’s cunning guerilla tactics. This would be stacked with an unconfirmed theory that the Scarlet Empress and the other houses were working to wipe out House Tepet’s military power. 

While it would be helpful in weakening the forces of the Realm for later on. There was also the issue that this removed one house from the deadly Game of the Scarlet Throne that would happen in just a few years. I had to make a choice, what would benefit my efforts at whatever plan I had. It would also help if I could find some solid base to start knowing what I wanted to do. 

In the end, I settled with my drive for keeping people alive and possibly making the realm focus more upon its own troubles than what was happening in the threshold. To do that, I had to keep Tepet in the running somehow. Easier said than done since I was hundreds upon hundreds of miles away from anything I could do to influence what would happen. 

Something came to my mind. From what I read, Tepet Arada, at least that what I thought his name was, came to this assignment already with misgivings that his house was being set up to fall. Perhaps if I could fan the flames of his caution, he would act in a way to not have the slaughter of his legions be a complete loss. 

So I frequented the teahouses, markets for shopping and the occasional theater house. While I was there groups discussing foreign affairs with special interests in the north found themselves with a stranger in their midst. From that unremarkable person’s words came some questions of the anathema causing such a ruckus in the north. The news that the legions of house Tepet were amassed north were tied to a similar event. There was one Tepet who was famed for striking down a similar anathema who had incited rebellion in the threshold. 

Pretty soon there was the occasional discussion of the slain anathema Jochim and the dragon blooded who killed him. The name of Tepet Arada began to be circulated in conversations. After some days of dropping the occasional comment, people began to draw similarities between the actions of Jochim to the bull of the north and wondered if it would be fate for Tepet Arada and the Bull of the North to meet again on the battlefield. 

While my first forays in the manipulation of information in the social sphere were in progress, I learned some interesting information of the items I seized from the tomb.

The first thing was the mask, smooth thin and white. It possessed no slash marks relating to being carved. The face of a serene man with a small gentle smile was the visage it showed to those that looked at it. It had a significant amount of weight to it which marked it highly likely to be an artifact. 

After checking the concave side for anything unusual, I put it on. To my surprise, it floated in front of my face There was enough space to allow me to continue to wear my glasses but close enough to cover my face. This affirmed to me that this was that artifact mentioned in the panoply of exalted. The mask furthermore had the power to change my facial appearance discovered from an accidental glance in a water puddle. It was another layer of protection for my identity and secrets. Now my range of activities would actually expand now I didn’t have to completely worry about being discovered. 

Going back to the set of three crystals, I had to analyze them mostly on my own. There was a quick appraisal at some of the stores specializing in rare antiquities. They confirmed that the gold was Orichalcum.

That was a dangerous piece of information to know. The Wyld Hunt jumped on any sort of information that the magical materials of the anathema were in the hands of a mortal. Thankfully I was under the disguises of my mask so unless they had. As for astrological tracking, for me the mask was in ascendance, damaged as it was while Jupiter remained safe in her own house. Mars and Saturn were in their nadir so I judged the risk acceptable.

At least I knew that the crystals did something magical. The designs on them were too intentional and designed to be ornamental. Or it could just be some insight given by my enhanced senses. I spent some time during the night before trying to get to sleep just turning them in my hand. I didn’t have a breakthrough until I felt something within me flow right into a crystal when I held it at a certain angle.

A great light show threw itself onto the walls of my room, I think it was called a salon, and in the air. Repeated scenes of faceless human bodies moved smoothly and gracefully, their actions gentle but deliberate. Knives, axes, sickles, needles flew out into the distance. Etched into my walls with light were sentences. I could but barely read them but they were of the similar style of the language Pip said the tomb’s tablet was written in. Which was something like an ancient style of high realm. 

With but a thought and concern for light flying out of the shutters and curtains of my window, the combative demonstration ceased. A few moments and I viewed the other two crystals. They both had similar martial displays. However the styles they showed were different from the first crystal, both at least used polearms though they were different in their applications. One had formations and the other looked more noble to my eyes. 

However for my personal preference, I would choose to attack from a distance. So studying the first crystal’s secrets were my plan. However before I could even think about trying to learn that style that tossed weapons with such skill and precision. I had to improve my own lackluster skills. 

So in the evening when my filching of purses was done in the evening. I had gotten a board of cork wood, drew a target on it and started practicing hurling daggers at it. It took me a while before I could get hits in the inner circle one toss out of three. I had just finished one session of dagger toss and satisfied with getting two actual bull’s eyes this time. Then the sound of thunder but no lighting came. I looked up but it was a cloudless sky. But then there was screaming and smoke in the distance.


	9. Part Nine --------And the Chaos Begins to Follow--------------------------------------------------

Part Nine  
\---------------------------------And the Chaos Begins to Follow--------------------------------------------------

A blast of sound came like a summer storm and it continued to repeat itself throughout the city of Great Forks. It was a series of explosions where their sources began to be marked by smokestacks that rose like solemn Sijian processions for the dead. 

These pillars of smoke rose from each of the four quarters but it was especially heavy in the area of the slave dorms. Screams began to disturb the relative peace of the evening hours.

The majority of screams and panic came from the slave neighborhoods. In spite of being drugged as the slaves of Great Forks normally were, those same slaves were still lucid enough to recognize when they were in danger. There was quite a lot of danger from the scent of burning wood and meat.

Assistance for those here might not arrive in time. Sure the slaves were the backbone of the city. They were labor force keeping the city fed and coffers rich to resist any attempts to bring Great Forks to heel. But the fact of the matter was that the slaves were only mortal. To the sensibilities of elementals, terrestrial gods and whatever spirits here, human life was more often than not lower on the priority list. This was a generalization sure, and maybe the reality was utterly different from what I read on the attitudes of spiritual beings to humans. I hadn’t seen anything to keep my hopes up yet. 

My steps were quick but steady towards the disorder, thoughts racing on what I could do to help. Also at the moment I wished I had a way to quickly contact Pip. I didn’t know if he had gone out to visit his companions in that street rat gang. If he had gone out, I had no idea where he would be and if he or those street rats would be affected by these explosions.

If they were, I’d have to worry if Pip was right in the action to help them, whoever they were. It was too little too late to do anything about it at the moment. There was too much to do and not enough time to learn every thing that could help. All I could do was hope he wouldn’t do something stupid to get himself killed. I didn’t save him and set off the suspicions of the Wyld Hunt just have him killed out there in the confusion. 

Steadily the chaos took shape as I got right in the middle of it. Buildings had collapsed and seared black in ash. Debris and dust scattered as leaves in the wind. The bitter sour scent of the people in flight was strong enough to be tasted. 

What I walked into was an eerie cityscape illuminated by swirling flames throwing odd shadows in across the ground and damaged wall. There was still people running about, mostly slaves trying to save their families or possessions. It was a shadow play of terror and senseless destruction. 

Like a shadow play, there was no sign of the ones responsible for this atrocity. It was a bitter feeling. So many issues plaguing this world had their true instigators hidden. Deception ruled supreme in Creation and the truth was lost in the fog of history and manipulation. I guess that’s why so many problems couldn’t be solved in a straightforward manner.

Then again the most straightforward solution throughout this world’s history was violence. Sure it could get rid of the obvious targets, but it wasn’t very useful for the more subtle threats. Sure I was fortunate that I had some outside information for the largest problems. But they were many and I was just one solar. One step at a time for me then.

I was broken out of my musing when the smell of meat left out under the summer sun hit me in the face. The street where I caught that smell had been mostly been abandoned.The source of the smell soon shambled out of a side alley. I had to bite back the vomit that threatened to spew out of me. A wrecked corpse with rags shredded threadbare and uneven legs. It was one of the restless dead, a thing that deserved the label of zombie. 

My question was why was it here? While I could recall Great Forks having a begrudging tolerance to the ancestor cults, after all gods were jealous about their worship. Something as blatant as the dead walking the streets in not quite broad daylight to cause wouldn’t be allowed. 

I would have guessed that somebody that recently died in the disaster suffered enough to have their corpse reanimate. However at a closer look, this zombie didn’t seem to have recently died. It’s putrid flesh appeared to have been decayed for several weeks at least.

The zombie didn’t notice me at first. Its direction pointed towards a father trying to pull his son out of the wreckage of a slave dorm. To my horror, that shambling corpse had an uncanny speed as it rushed to bite off the man’s limbs. Its appearance as it dived towards the slave was like a twisted insect scurrying towards safety from the light. 

The screaming of that man made me cold, my hand reached inside my cloak to the sheathed daggers inside. The head of that zombie seemed so clear to my vision. Every patch of scabbed-over skin and crumpled hair was in crystal detail. One was drawn with utter certainty. Driven to end the source of that mortal man’s suffering. 

A single knife flew with unerring aim, the light of the flame glinted off its metal. It was like a single righteous bolt of justice. It passed by the zombie’s head, and a piece of undead face carved off flopped to the ground.

An unholy screeching bounced off the walls while the mortal father crawled away with his son in his arms. The zombie had noticed my attempt to keep it away from its meal and now turned its mindless attentions to me.

My answer was two more knives that rocketed out from my hands. Its leg suddenly had much less mass than when it started. Then the knife in its gut made it stumble towards me much more slowly. It didn’t stop the zombie from trying to disembowel me. Yet compared to my divinely enhanced reflexes, Its clumsy swings were obviously telegraphed which gave me a range of openings. 

A fist crushed ribs, long made brittle by the passage of time. Infection dipped talons just barely grazed the surface of the false face created by the mask I wore. My answer was to shatter its skull with the base of my palm. Utter disgust at the walking disregard for the dignity those departed sent tremors through my arm. Or it could have been because I got splattered with brain matter 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had to take a moment to recompose myself, which involved hyperventilation, limited panicking and promising to soak myself in the tub for an extended period of time. Then I brought myself back by remembering there was a wounded man there and there were still fires raging about. 

My approach was rushed but non-threatening. The slave gave a completely manly and justified shriek at the sight of me. I took a look at myself, and saw that I didn’t make for a calming sight what with the blood, dirt and brain matter splattered all over my clothes. It would better to focus on the more important things “Got any salt? We need to clean those wounds out.” I said.

It seemed to be effective as the man calmed down and shook his head in response. The sound of approaching people came from the side. “If we don’t have any salt then you’re going to have to burn out that infection. Those talons don’t look to have been anywhere near clean.” I said, pointing to the red gashes across his body. 

Approaching from the side striding dignified through the devastation, was a mix of a lion and one of those large imposing guard dogs. There seemed to be more guards of Great Forks that followed the incredibly obvious spirit. Though from the impossibly immaculate uniforms and armor of those guards I suspected they’re exactly mortal in any case. The waves of floating water spraying out to put out fires was one piece of evidence in favor of my guess. 

The leader was a lion-dog which according to what occult knowledge I have was the terrestrial version of the Celestial lions, the guardians of Yu-Shan. He stood before us, firelight shone like sparks over green mist patterned flesh. “Halt! State your business here.” 

I looked at him “He’s been attacked by a zombie, I’d like to make sure there’s no infection left behind.” I waved my hand to the destruction around us. “But there’s no salt but only fire, and I don’t want to do emergency surgery in this.” I pointed to my gore covered clothes.

“The healers will take care of it. But that does not explain why you are here.” The lion-dog said.

“I could hardly leave people alone during a crisis like this.” I said watching one of the elemental guards take away the slave. “Especially when there’s restless dead walking about.” The corpse of the zombie lay there still on the ground. “Why are there restless dead here in the first place?”

“That does not concern you but I will get to the bottom of this.” The lion-dog said with all the pomp of a figure of authority not wanting a mere plebian looking too closely at their business. “Now please leave the crime scene now.” A certain chilly glare resembling sharp stabbing steel directed itself to me. 

It went sniffing at the carnage while pointedly not moving from the spot it was sniffing at. I took it as sign I should leave, but I did so slowly and studied as many details as possible from my walk away. 

From the few glances at the area I could come to some conclusions but I had no way to insure that I was correct about those conclusions. The sources of the bombs seemed to come from public and easily accessible areas, at least in this district.

I judged this from the spread of the flames and wreckage. Disregarding the large piles of wreckage, everything blasted out into circles except for when the wreckage met obstacles. However there wasn’t enough clues or enough divine insight to discover who placed them there. The explosives probably weren’t overt and whoever placed them there weren’t undead at least. After all most people would be suspicious about whatever a wandering piece of rotten meat animated by the decaying and stagnant energy of the underworld would be doing. 

However the larger question I had to wonder was the ultimate purpose of this assault on the city. . To do that, I came to the question who would gain the most from this chaos? The results in the city was chaos and disorder. I noticed that the slave dorms were also heavily hit. At the moment the labor force for caring for the drug cash crops were depleted. 

There were many enemy factions that wanted to control Great Forks. Any one of them could have been responsible for this. However there was one factor that reasonably pointed to the culprit. The singular zombie that shambled about the city directed my guess that it was forces of the Underworld that set this disaster into place. It could have been a red herring by some other mastermind considering my conclusion to all according to plan. But it was the only sensible conclusion I could come to now. 

So assuming that this attack came from a plot by the forces of the underworld, what benefit would come from paralyzing Great Forks for the moment? While it prevented the city from doing anything significant, it would make the ancestor cult lose ground here. Then again I felt like I was missing something important but I was sure that it would come to me in time and hopefully if I found more information. 

I finally came back to my quarters and opened the door, hoping that Pip was there and alright. The lunar was sitting down, hands folded upon his knees. His head rose and lines crossed his tense face. “Fung?” He paused scanning me from top to bottom and looked assured. “I need to ask you for a favor.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ladies, Gentlemen, Others. I bring to you a tale of a modern day person tossed into the cluster duck of the Age of Sorrows. Where this man is over his head but does his best anyway, because what else could he do? Originally posted on spacebattles, and sufficient velocity and posted here for others to enjoy.


End file.
